Quantifying drag on wellbore casings in moving salt sheets

Frontier hydrocarbon development projects in the deepwater slopes of the Gulf of Mexico Basin, Santos Basin and Lower Congo Basin all require wells to cross ductile layers of autochthonous or allochthonous salt moving at peak rates of 100 mm yr^-1. The Couette-Poiseuille number is introduced here to help pinpoint the depth of shear stress reversal in such salt layers. For any well-planned through salt, the probable range of creep forces of moving salt needs to be taken into account when designing safety margins and load-factor tolerance of the well casing. Drag forces increase with wellbore diameter, but more significantly with effective viscosity and speed of the creeping salt layer. The potential drag forces on cased wellbores in moving salt sheets are estimated analytically using a range of salt viscosities (10¹⁵-10¹⁹ Pa s) and creep rates (0^-10 mm yr^-1). Drag on perfectly rigid casing of infinite strength may reach up to 13 Giga Newton per meter wellbore length in salt having a viscosity of 10¹⁹ Pa s. Well designers may delay stress accumulations due to salt drag when flexible casing accommodates some of the early displacement and strain. However, all creeping salt could displace, fracture and disconnect well casing, eventually. The shear strength of typical heavy duty well casing (about 1000 MPa) can be reached due to drag by moving salt. Internal flow of salt will then fracture the casing near salt entry and exit points, but the structural damage is likely to remain unnoticed early in the well-life when the horizontal shift of the wellbore is still negligibly small (at less than 1 cm yr^-1). Disruption of casing and production flow lines within the anticipated service lifetime of a well remains a significant risk factor within distinct zones of low-viscosity salt which may reach ultrafast creep rates of 100 mm yr^-1.